Rape suspect gets 8-year prison term after 11 years on the run, as DNA matches

This illustration depicts a police investigation using DNA.(Yonhap)

A man, who was arrested 11 years after committing rape in the southwestern city of Gwangju, was sentenced to eight years in prison by a district court on Tuesday.

The case had remained unsolved due to lack of evidence until February this year, when DNA found at the scene matched a sample from the suspect.

The Gwangju District Court handed down the prison term to the perpetrator, identified only as a 39-year-old man.

The man was convicted of raping the victim after breaking into her home in Gwangju on May 20, 2009.

The victim was sleeping alone at 5:20 a.m and the perpetrator raped her after threatening to kill her if she shouted.

Besides the prison term, the court banned the perpetrator from working with children, youth and disabled people for five years and ordered a five-year disclosure of his personal information and three years of probation.

"The accused's crime is grave because he committed a crime after trespassing into a private residence and caused anxiety and fear that innocent citizens can be crime victims anytime," the court said.

"The victim has suffered from severe pain and fear for the past 11 years. But the absence of the accused's additional sex crime during the 11 years as a fugitive was taken into consideration in determining his sentence," it said. (Yonhap)